Baht, promotions spur outbound tours

“Many of our customers who had travelled overseas when the baht hovered at around 33.5 to US$1 found the current rates irresistible and have opted for another trip overseas,” Wanida Hongsunirandon, travel manager for Holiday Tours & Travel (Thailand) and the general sales agent of Trafalgar, said yesterday.

Nicholas Lim, regional director for Trafalgar Asia, said that with a robust Asian economy and currencies versus a weakened euro and British pound, the buying power for Europe is stronger than ever. “As a result, bookings have doubled compared with the same period last year, putting Asia on a commanding lead of 45-per-cent growth within the region,” he said.

Those whose travel plans had been held up by unfavourable exchange rates now consider the new rates acceptable and decided it was time to travel overseas, Wanida said.

Taking 2008 as the base year, the baht has improved by about 10 per cent against the US dollar, 19 per cent against the euro and 24 per cent over the pound sterling.

“In Europe, England, France and Italy were the top three destinations. Other favourites were Germany, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Scandinavia and the Netherlands,” she said.

The first-quarter sales boost put her company on track to achieving the 25-per-cent growth targeted by Trafalgar for this year.

Holiday Tours & Travels and other Trafalgar travel-agent partners have been successfully using their exclusive “insider experiences” combined with market-leading early-payment discounts and other special offers to close more high-commission guided-vacation sales.

“Asia, as a short-haul route, was still the top destination, followed by Europe and the Americas,” Wanida said.

Thailand’s outbound tour market offered more growth potential and should become a major contributor to Trafalgar’s Asian travel portfolio in which Singapore at 40 per cent, Malaysia at 25 per cent and the Philippines at 25 per cent are the major contributors.